Film
Thundercats Movie in the Works from Godzilla vs. Kong’s Adam Wingard
Thundercats are coming to the big screen. A feature film adaptation of the beloved animated series is officially in the works from Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard, who happens to be a lifelong Thundercats superfan. As Deadline reports, the Warner Bros. production will be a combination of CGI and animation. Wingard is currently writing the script with his frequent collaborator Simon Barrett, who previously teamed up for the horror flicks You’re Next (2011) and The Guest (2014). Wingard will also be working with producers Roy Lee and Dan Lin, thus recreating the trio that brought us that Death Note movie in 2017. Wingard’s films haven’t always been well-received by critics, but it seems like a Thundercats movie is the project he was born t...
Godzilla vs. Kong Is Punch-Drunk Fun: Review
The Pitch: Godzilla and Kong square off in battle to determine who will be the planet’s apex predator. Five years have passed since the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters when Godzilla established himself as Earth’s alpha Titan. Presently, only Godzilla and Kong remain active, and both are continuously monitored by Monarch, the scientific organization that tracks and studies Titans. Kong now resides in a large dome on Skull Island, designed to look like his natural habitat before the island’s climate shifted into near-constant hurricanes, but also to protect him from Godzilla. Doctor Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) oversees his daily life along with her adopted, deaf daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), who can communicate with Kong through sign language. Jia and Kong’s connection is unmistake...
HBO’s Tina Is a Disappointing Slog for a Vibrant Legend: Review
The Pitch: You can’t keep Tina Turner down. Born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee to a sharecropper, her mother left when she was 11 years old to escape the clutches of her abusive husband. Bullock would later visit her mother in St Louis wherein she met Ike Turner at a nightclub. From there: The pair began a tumultuous, abusive relationship on the part of Ike. Bullock, by then known as Tina Turner, became entrapped but eventually escaped, rebuilt her music career, and performed one of the most unlikely comebacks in music history. Her story is one of survival, one of resilience, and one too often defined by Ike and not under the banner of Turner. The hardest working woman in show business bids adieu and recounts her life in T. J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay’s HBO documentary — Tina...
Disney Channel Film “Spin” Follows Young Indian Woman’s Journey to Become a DJ
A groundbreaking new Disney Channel film, slated for release this year, follows the story of an Indian-American teen who learns to harness her inner talent for DJing and producing music. Spin marks the first Disney Channel film to center around an Indian lead actress, Avantika Vandanapu. Vandanapu’s character, Rhea, finds a unique cultural angle for her productions, which involves weaving sonic elements into her music derived from her Indian heritage. Vandanapu shared that she felt a sense of deep alignment with her character’s affinity for dance music and the arts. “I grew up being a dancer, I still am, and I love working with rhythm and beats,” Vandanapu told Entertainment Tonight. “DJing weaves music production into all the other melodic elements that ...
Michael Mann’s Thief: James Caan and James Belushi Return to Chicago 40 Years Later
Neon lights across Wabash. Coffee and donuts by the Adler. Midnight blues on Lincoln Ave. Car light chats in the West Loop. The streets are wet. The night is blue. The men are dangerous. This is the world of Michael Mann’s Thief. Inspired by Frank Hohimer’s 1975 true crime book The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar, the feature film debut of the Chicago veteran is a bridge between two times: a boiling point for ’70s crime thrillers and a fever dream of the ’80s to come. In 1980, Mann knew exactly where he was going when he set out to play in his hometown. From the prescient use of Tangerine Dream to the lone wolf archetype he gave to James Caan, Thief serves as a blueprint for everything that defines his CV. A CV, mind you, that would not only go on to define the ’80s but recalib...
R.I.P. Craig “muMs” Grant, Oz Actor and Poet Dead at 52
Craig Grant, the actor and poet best known for his work on the HBO drama Oz and who went by “muMs da Schemer” in slam-poetry competitions, has died at 52. He passed away on Wednesday, according to his representative Pam Ellis-Evenas. A cause of death has not yet been determined. Born and raised in New York City in 1968, Grant fell in love with poetry in his youth and was a well-known poet in the local scene by the time he left Mount St. Michael Academy High School. As part of the acclaimed Nuyorican Poetry Slam team, he was featured in the 1998 documentary SlamNation and on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam series, both of which propelled Grant’s career and positioned him as an inspiration to aspiring poets. Grant’s breakout moment in Hollywood came courtesy of his featured role as Poet, a heroin addic...
R.I.P. Houston Tumlin, Talladega Nights Actor Dead at 28
Former child actor Houston Tumlin, who famously played Will Ferrell’s son Walker in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, has died at 28 years old. According to TMZ, Tumlin took his own life in his Alabama home on Tuesday afternoon by shooting himself in the head. As of now, investigators haven’t found a note, but his girlfriend was reportedly present in the house at the time of his death. His role as Walker Bobby, the potty-mouthed son of Will Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby character, was Tumlin’s only acting credit. He starred alongside Grayson Russell in the 2006 comedy, who played Ricky’s other son Texas Ranger. Although the cast included A-listers like Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Sacha Baron Cohen, Tumlin starred in many of the flick’s most memorable scenes, including the not...
Tokyo Ghost Comic Book to Get Movie Adaptation from Cary Fukunaga
Tokyo Ghost, the futuristic sci-fi comic book series released in 2015 by Image Comics, is being adapted into a feature film. No Time to Die director Cary Fukunaga is onboard to helm the movie and the series’ author, Rick Remender, will pen the script. Set in 2089 when humanity is addicted to technology, Tokyo Ghost follows the story of Debbie Decay and Led Dent, two peacekeepers in the Isles of Los Angeles, who are assigned a job that will take them to the last tech-free country on the planet: the garden nation of Tokyo. Remender has previously summarized the comic book series as being a “a big, visual, exciting story that at the heart of it is hiding the fact that it’s really a love story.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cyberpunk series adaptation will be produced by Fukunaga, ...
Ron Livingston Replacing Billy Crudup as The Flash’s Dad
Barry’s got a brand new dad. With Billy Crudup departing The Flash due to scheduling conflicts with Apple TV Plus’ The Morning Show, Ron Livingston is replacing him in the role of Henry Allen (via Variety). The Office Space and The Conjuring actor is taking over the fatherly part after Crudup played it in Justice League. The Flash has been through development hell over the years, losing numerous directors before Andy Muschietti (It) finally stepped to the starting line in 2019. Production was again postponed due to the pandemic, which ultimately led to Crudup’s scheduling conflict. Livingston’s addition comes days after Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth, Y Tu Mamá También) was cast as Barry “the Flash” Allen’s mother, Nora Allen. Thought official plot details are still thin, it’s generally as...
Pierce Brosnan Cast as DC Hero Doctor Fate in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam
Pierce Brosnan (photo by Ovidiu Hrubaru/Shutterstock) and Dr. Fate (DC Comics) The Doctor is in. Pierce Brosnan has been cast as mystical hero Doctor Fate in Dwayne Johnson’s DC Extended Universe antihero adventure Black Adam (via The Hollywood Reporter). The veteran James Bond actor will bring to life one of DC Comics’ oldest characters, as Dr. Fate was created in 1940. The character is Kent Nelson, the son of an archeologist who comes across the wizard Nabu in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Nabu trains Nelson in the art of sorcery, bestowing on him the Helmet of Fate, a powerful artifact that has become Dr. Fate’s signature attire. Brosnan’s casting rounds out the Justice Society of America, who will either face off against or team up with Johnson’s Black Adam in the movie (or, likely, both)....
R.I.P. George Segal, Just Shoot Me! and The Goldbergs Actor Dead at 87
George Segal, the veteran actor who starred in countless movies and TV shows including Just Shoot Me! and The Goldbergs, has died at 87. He passed away due to complications from bypass surgery in Santa Rosa, California, reports Variety. Born in Great Neck, New York in 1934 to a Jewish family, Segal quickly fell in love with acting after seeing Alan Ladd in This Gun for Hire when he was nine years old. He spent his free time playing banjo and watching movies in high school before leaving for Haverford College. Segal then earned his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1955 and briefly served in the US Army. After landing a job as an understudy in a Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh, Segal started securing sporadic roles in a handful of ’60s TV shows and ca...
Zac Efron and Russell Crowe to Star in Peter Farrelly’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever
Peter Farrelly is following his Oscar-winning film, Green Book, with The Greatest Beer Run Ever. According to Deadline, Apple Studios is in negotiations to finance the movie, with Zac Efron and Russell Crowe in talks to star. Bill Murray is reportedly being tapped for a supporting role. Farrelly co-wrote the script with Brian Currie and Pete Jones, based on Chick Donohue and J.T. Malloy’s bestselling book, The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty and War. Beer Run tells Donohue’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they were fighting in Vietnam. Donohue went through tremendous lengths to accomplish his goal, as he hitched a ride on a Merchant Marine ship and then carried the beer through the jungle while trying ...
